Epic RP Part 1

[shichahn]

In which the two make up over drinks, and Perion learns the universe is larger than she'd thought.



Some of the girls from work had convinced Perion that it would be a good idea to get out, to take her mind off her ex-husband and everything else and take a break. A break, for them, met going out and clubbing and picking up dudes. The dude picking up wasn't something Perion was interested in; she didn't want to have to deal with all of that so soon, but the break was welcome, especially after last night.

She was glad that the paper didn't have anything about the good Professor Pearlman splattered across the front page, killed in some gruesome manner. The woman expected it and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't happen. It was a huge relief. She had never felt weaker than she had that night; she felt like she could have taken that midget drug dealer or whatever he was, but she couldn't and that wasn't the greatest of feelings on top of everything else.

Still, at least she was alive and well. That had to count for something.

Perion was standing outside of the club the girls had dragged her to; the lights inside were too bright and the music too loud. All she wanted to do was go home but it was too far to walk and she didn't want to pay for a cab. All she had to do, she reminded herself, was to wait another couple of hours before her friends tired themselves out and gave her a ride home. She looked down at her watch with a groan, realizing she had only been there for thirty minutes. Home couldn't come soon enough.

That very same midget drug dealer, who was neither a - well, he wasn't a drug dealer, at least; average height for a hedgehog wasn't exactly tall - had by now gotten the chance to talk to Pearlman about creating a replica Emerald. Unfortunately, the good Professor was going to require two things first: time and money. Making things as favors for strangers just wasn't going to happen, it seemed, and Shadow's status as a government agent didn't really pull through for him in other dimensions. He would have to either find the resources Pearlman needed, or find another way out.

In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to wander the city a little. It was an interesting enough place, and if he wasn't bound by his promise to take care of the Earth he knew, he wouldn't necessarily be in such a hurry back. He leapt from roof to roof, then stopped, hearing music. Some sort of nightclub? It wasn't exactly his sort of place, although a drink sounded nice right about now. And - wait, wasn't that the same girl he'd seen the other night?

He'd already apologized - unnecessarily, really, she'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, who was he to care? - so why was it that he'd quickly dropped to the street level, onto the sidewalk across from the club? He honestly wasn't sure. But it couldn't do any harm to make sure the girl, whoever it was, was alright. He still didn't know her name, either. Maybe he could fix that. You never knew when someone might eventually become useful, after all.

Crossing his arms and leaning back against the building behind him, Shadow waited to see what she was up to, or if she would even notice him at all.

A car crossed Perion's vision, blocking Shadow from view a moment, when she finally looked across the street. It was almost like something out of a horror movie -- one second there was nothing across from her and then the second there was something small and... looking at her? That's what she thought, anyway, as she squinted her grey eyes, trying to get a better look through the low glow of the lamplight.

Something about the figure looked familiar and it compelled her to stay where she was, right by the door of the nightclub. She wasn't stupid by any means, except when she lost her temper, and that had been happening a lot recently, last night being the biggest standing testament to it. At least if it tried something, she could run back inside and lose it in the crowd. A perk, perhaps, for being out here when she didn't want to be.

The long she looked the more... wait. It was... By everything good and holy, it couldn't be. It was the same damned person that had attacked her last night. But why was here? And why wasn't he attacking her again? Maybe he wanted to apologize..? She hadn't seen him mouth it the night before, too busy trying to pretend he wasn't there.

She took a small breath, trying to steady herself, trying not to show any of the fear that she felt, and gave an almost impertinent toss of her red hair, calling out across the one-way street. "Can I help you with something?"

Well, she'd seen him, anyway. And seemed to be playing the I'm-so-tough game, or some little variant on it. He shrugged a little in response, and looked up and down the street, casually. Yes, he could play little acting games, too, if that's what she wanted. Unfortunately, the view wasn't what it had been from up above. Predictably disappointing, actually.

He didn't usually make it a habit of his to mess with humans, even ones with weird powers like this one seemed to. Staying away from their idiocy was almost always the better option. But, again, he had some time to kill, and you never knew who hung out in clubs, if Rouge herself had run one back in Central City. So, he looked over at the girl across the street, then took a few steps toward her, on the sidewalk.

"You could get me a drink?" he replied, with a dark chuckle and a bit of a smirk.

The chuckle and smirk made her stiffen, but she didn't do anything. He didn't seem to mean her any harm, but maybe everything going on was making her grow stupid. That would be a terrific topper. She also didn't want to go back into the club and have to explain to her friends who this guy was and what she was doing with him. Shit, the woman didn't even know what she was doing with him herself.

Perion looked over her shoulder at the club, coming to a decision. She wasn't going back in there, she definitely couldn't. Thankfully, downtown was filled with bars and clubs and places for people to go to drink themselves into comas, and Perion did want a quieter place to go do that at.

"There's a place around the corner." She told him with a jerk of her head.

Going some place with this weird guy wasn't something she particularly wanted to do, but she felt that she might be fine. At least, she knew all of the plants along this street; the city had seen fit to plant a bunch along the sidewalks, so if worst came to worse, she could use them to defend herself.

She was actually taking him up on it? He hadn't entirely expected that, but then again, humans, idiocy, etcetera. She was lucky he didn't actually intend her any harm, if she was making it that easy.

Bright white-blue light enveloped him as he teleported himself to the other side of the street. He looked up at her and gave a small nod. "Lead the way, then"

Her whole body twitched at the teleportation and she almost looked as if she was going to bolt, but she quickly quelled it and kept her face impassive. There were weirder things that she had seen in this city, but she was starting to believe that this guy wasn't from around here. There was no one she had ever seen that had looked quite like him, not even the hybrids.

With a curt nod, she turned and lead the way down the street, not saying anything. The plants she passed bent towards her and she hoped it made a point to the creature following her not to try anything.

It would probably be best to withhold commenting on her so very obvious shock at the Chaos Control. Not if she was going to treat him to a drink, anyway. It was unfortunate that the money was different here; he so rarely needed it, back home, yet for the first time in quite a while, he suddenly wished his wallet was effectively empty.

As they walked, he did in fact notice the plants. It didn't look as if it was intentional control on her part; rather, it was almost as if the plants were doing it themselves. Strange.

"I've never seen plants react to someone like that," he stated, curious as to her response.

"And I've never seen someone teleport like that," she responded levelly. "The plant thing isn't weird here. You would know that if you were from around this city." Though it was statement, the tone of the last word was raised lightly in a questioning manner. Perion wanted to get to the bottom of where this creature was from.

You know, it would probably be really nice to not be from around here. What she wouldn't give to be anywhere but here right now.

"I'm not, though, obviously," he stated simply, seeing no real need to explain beyond that. When people say that something is a long story because they want to avoid talking about it, they often didn't mean it was literally extremely long and complicated. This story? Was long and complicated, and involved a lot of explanation that he wasn't interested in doing. Conversation wasn't exactly a favorite pastime of his.

"I've looked around a little, here. This place is unique." An understatement, perhaps - the diversity in that awful compound hadn't even been this great, somehow, despite the Warden's claim of pulling people from all sorts of places. They were all still mostly the same - humans who thought they were amazing warriors with magic or whatever they had, until they came to Econtra and met other humans who were just as capable with the same tools. None of them were anywhere near his level, of course.

"Not to state the obvious or anything," she replied with a little eye roll, one he wouldn't be abe to see because her back was still to him, unless he could see through the back of her skull. Of course, that was entirely possible, given the fact he wasn't from this world, but also just as possible if he were.

"I suppose this place would be unique to someone that wasn't from the city; I just find it normal. You on the other hand... are quite unique indeed." At this, Perion finally spared a glance at him from over her shoulder, expression critical. She really wanted to know where he was from, but she didn't want to press. If he drank enough, it'd probably come out through that, but lord knew what else he would do. She was hoping the bar wouldn't get blown up, at least. That happened last week with a friend of a friend; she wasn't there, thankfully, but she heard aaaall about it.

He narrowed his eyes a little, when she glanced back at him, then gave a soft "Hmph". She didn't even know the half of it. Unique was a rather understated way of describing him. Still, he could wait until they'd found a place to sit, before introductions.

A slightly bitter thought crossed his mind. The last time he'd had a drink was when that goddamned hedgehog gave him whatever that stuff was that he'd gotten from the djinn. He would probably still claim he hadn't known it was that strong, too, if Shadow were to ask today. He simply didn't get drunk, normally; he never drank much, and it would take an awful lot to put him under, despite his size. But whatever it was that Otogi had come up with was something else entirely.

Perion wasn't much of a drinker either, but it was a habit that she had picked up lately. That warm tingly feeling was nice after a long day of work and kept her from thinking about the divorce and... well, everything else. The only thing she didn't like was that the smell of alcohol was just as tough to scrub out as the smell of the chemicals she used at work. She didn't need the pomegranate smell of her shampoo mixed with chemicals and booze. Next thing she'd need is to take up smoking and have that following her around.

"Testy, aren't you?" Perion held open the door to the bar once they reached it. Inside, some sort of jazz band was playing and the lights were low. It was one of the better places to go if you didn't want head pounding music to beat with the rhythm of ache in your head.

It would probably be best to decline to answer that, Shadow decided. It wasn't like defending himself against it would be useful, either; he was testy, if she wanted to put it that way. Actually, he was worse than that. People who were just testy didn't usually spend a couple weeks trying to wipe out all of humankind and nearly succeeding in doing so, no matter what had convinced them it was a good idea. Shadow was over that, now, of course. ... Mostly.

The jazz wasn't really his thing, either, and actually, he almost preferred the music at the club, but the atmosphere there would have been counterproductive to learning more about this place due to the general noise level. No, this would be fine.

Well, first things were first. Shadow walked up to the bar - which was a bit high, really, so he ended up pulling himself up onto a stool instead - and looked over the local selection. Some was familiar, and some was definitely not.

"Dry martini," he informed the bartender, once she'd made her way over.

Perion made a point to slide effortlessly onto the stool next to the hedgehog, just to be impertinent. She glanced over at him, sizing him up. Even though the light was low, it was definitely brighter than the street lamps outside and she was able to get a much better look at him. He was very... odd. That was the only word that the woman could think of to describe him. Really, there wasn't anyone like him around here, but he would still be able to blend in easily enough if he wouldn't. Assuming he wouldn't be so antagonistic towards everyone else, that is.

"I'll have a cosmopolitan," she told the bartender when he turned towards her. The satyr nodded and went about making their drinks, his back to them.

"So what brings you here? Any reason in particular?" One eyebrow was perfectly arched and her expression was one of polite interest. She really did want to know, but she was also wasn't sure how much he was willing to tell her. Not that she could blame him, anyway.

Oh, how to answer that. Technically, as far as he knew, the only reason he was here was because the Consulo was probably glitchy as hell, if it was even a real computer. But telling someone who you caused to black out briefly the night before that you were here because an alien computer screwed up and sent you to the wrong dimension, well... Maybe things really were that different here, but in most places, that wouldn't go over very well, even if it was the truth.

"I didn't come here intentionally. Let's just say my flight was hijacked," he said, somewhat bitterly. It was a suitable enough metaphor, although it implied intent that probably didn't exist. It would have been more accurate to say that the pilot got lost, but usually one would expect a plane's navigation systems to correct for that. Maybe the Warden just made for a poor pilot.

"Of... course." Perion looked at him levelly. She didn't quite know what he meant by that, but she wasn't going to press. At least she knew it was meant to be a metaphor and it wasn't literal; most planes that got hijacked were blown up or crashed, though it didn't happen often or... at all, really.

The bartender set their drinks down and she poked idly at the contents of her own with a straw, knowing the little umbrella around. "So what's your name?"

So she hadn't really understood his explanation, if you could call it that. Well, that was fine. She didn't need to know, anyway. It wasn't like she mattered.

And oh, what timing. A martini, just for him. Delightful.

"Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog," he answered, looking her over, before having a sip of his drink. "You?"

"Perion Eneas, goddess." Hey, if he was going to divulge his species, then she may as well too. Hedgehog was a new one, though, but she wasn't going to say anything on it; that would be rude. Either way, she held a hand out to him for him to shake.

"You find what you want with Pearlman?"

"Goddess?" He shook her hand, and quirked an eyebrow. He'd met a few already who'd called themselves such a name; it was probably a good thing, too, or he would have had a rather sarcastic reply for a human who regarded themselves so highly. Well, that explained the plants, then. He didn't think much of the whole deity title, though, really - from what he'd found, it just meant she was more powerful than most, and was probably immortal to some extent. Well, oh boy, so was he, but he didn't think of himself as a god. Although it wouldn't surprise him if he was regarded as such by idiots around the world in a couple centuries.

"More or less," was his vague reply to her question. "He's busy these days, though, unfortunately."

"Yes, goddess. I'm guessing it means something different from where you're from?" Actually, being a goddess here wasn't much different than any of the other species wandering around the city. It just meant she had a longer life span than most. Hell, powers weren't even a perk since a lot of the humans had them, too. You were really weren't much different from everyone else here other than from looks.

"What would you expect, from a professor?" Perion took a sip from her drink after twirling the straw through it one more time. "He obviously took the time to meet with you; that's something."

"It means different things for different people. What does it mean for you?" She couldn't exactly set up a comparison like that without anything for him to base it off of. Hopefully she would give a reasonable answer.

As to her other statement, he simply shrugged. Professor was another of those titles that meant a variety of things. All it really implied was that someone had a graduate degree of some kind and was affiliated with some institute of higher education. Pearlman wasn't a terrible person, just of the more typical sort of human than his creator had been. Although, he had shown a very typical sort of interest in his Chaos Emerald - a great deal of interest. Even humans, who typically couldn't use the gems, were drawn to their power.

"I live longer. That's about it." Perion shrugged, taking another sip and nearly finishing her drink. Maybe she should have just ordered shots instead, she mused silently to herself.

"There are old stories about gods from some civilizations, but it's believed that our ancestors were just using their lifespans to rule what they considered peons. We're not all that great. If we were..." She trailed off, muttering to herself. What the woman was going to finish with was, 'if we were so great, I wouldn't be getting divorced right about now,' but she had stopped, not wanting to divulge that much information. Sure, she wanted a sympathetic ear, but that was more for the bartender than some hedgehog that KO'ed her the night before and then demanded she buy her a drink the next.

"Shame." Shadow let his mild amusement show in the smirk that appeared briefly, before he had another sip of the martini. Her answer didn't surprise him, except maybe for its honesty.

"Things are similar, where I come from. But most don't realize that." Chaos, for example, was regarded as a god, but most humans thought that meant he was somehow all-powerful, and had existed since time immemorial, or something. But Chaos had only been around since beginning a few hundred years ago, and only existed because a chao had somehow been altered by the power of the Master Emerald, or so he'd heard. There were no gods as humans thought there were, not really.

Perion regarded the smirk with a closed and guarded expression. She still didn't know what to think of him, but she didn't see much reason to lie about things, especially things that were well known by school children.

"People can be real stupid sometimes."

"Sometimes? More often than that." And the more there were, the more stupid they would be. It was a fact, regardless of species, and was a large part of why he usually traveled and worked alone, and chose his allies very closely if he wished for any assistance. Which was rare. Mostly it was Rouge asking for his help, not the other way around. Although he was sure she would say the opposite if asked.

"What brought you to be standing outside that club on your own, if I might ask?"

Traveling alone, while something he preferred, was a little unusual for a woman of any age, goddess notwithstanding. And it had looked as though she had been standing there a while, when he'd arrived. He'd seen a taxi pass by at least once while she was waiting, so what else might she have been waiting for?

Why had she been standing out there? The music was too loud. The lights too bright. She wanted to be there and then didn't as soon as she got there, but couldn't get away. The divorce. The possibility that she might be pregnant, but the father was either her ex-husband or that stripper she had a one night stand with right after the divorce papers were finalized.

She stared off for a moment over her finished cosmopolitan, grey eyes clouded, before finally responding. "...It's a long story."

"You don't seem to be in a hurry," he commented, idly swirling what remained of the martini. She certainly didn't have to tell him, if she didn't want to, but he was bored, and curious by nature, even if his curiosity usually was put to use finding out more valuable information than this. That was where the boredom came in, he supposed.

"If you tell yours, I'll tell you why I'm here." It was a fair bet that by then, she would have had a bit more to drink, as well. It would be interesting to see if that made her more or less capable of believing how he'd wound up here.

Perion paused, biting her lip and not entirely sure if she wanted to tell him. But there was that ear she wanted, even if it did seem less than sympathetic. At this point, the bartender interrupted her just as she was about to begin and she ordered herself another cosmopolitan and a couple of carbombs -- if she was going to do this, she may as well do this right and be drunk off her ass when it happened.

When the drinks returned, she downed one of the carbombs and turned a morose look to Shadow, face slightly flushed from the alcohol. "I'm getting a divorce. We were married for years and... and now..." She glanced down at one of her hands, where her wedding ring had used to be. "He was such a fucking prick. And I might be pregnant. I... I haven't told anyone that or else the girls wouldn't have tried to take me clubbing and would be back at the morgue planning the shower, but..." Perion let out a slightly unstable laugh, the hysterics having built up for the past few weeks, and tossed back the second carbomb.

"I would rather be anywhere but here."

Surprised, Shadow's ears flicked back for a moment. He really hadn't been expecting or asking for some domestic sob story. Soap opera tragedies weren't his thing. Neither was sympathy. Or comfort, for that matter. Yet he was the only one she'd told about this? Admittedly, it wasn't a terrible choice - telling these things to a stranger, who didn't necessarily have any feelings invested in her, made a certain amount of sense. And it wasn't like he was one to gossip.

The alcohol couldn't be good for the baby, either, if there was one, but it wasn't his business to correct her on it. She could do whatever she wanted, and that included drowning the fetus in alcohol, he didn't care. Still, he felt compelled to do something. He wasn't completely heartless, just mostly.

Tipping back the last of his martini, Shadow looked to the bartender. "We'll be right back," he stated, then reached for Perion's arm before she could pull away.

A flash, and then they were on the roof of the tallest building in the city. Shadow wasn't really sure what it was, but he'd seen it earlier and spent a bit of time taking in the view. It was different at night, that was certain.

"I would have taken you farther, but I haven't seen enough of this planet yet," he admitted. Hopefully she didn't try to pitch herself off the roof or something. It would be a pain for whoever cleaned up in the morning.

Perion hadn't quite reached the point of suicide yet. There was something about cutting open corpses every day for the past few years that turned her off to the idea; she didn't want to become a slab of meat, alone in a morgue. Though from the height of this building, she wouldn't be so much a slab of meat as a tub of liquid.

She knew about the alcohol as well, but part of her didn't care. Part of her actually hoped that if there was something there, maybe she would just miscarry or give herself more of a reason to abort than if it were healthy. It would make things easier and she just wanted the easy out of the situation at this point.

When he grabbed her, it was the last thing she expected and when they left the bar in that bright flash of light, Perion expected that even less. Her eyes were wide and she swayed dizzily on the roof of the building, but she was standing far enough away from the edge for it to be a danger to herself. "Why would you..?" She couldn't bring herself to look at him, too enthralled with watching the twinkling of the lights from the city beneath them.

He shrugged. "'Here' is a vague word. Getting out of the city might do you good." She needed a break more than anything, probably. Especially if drinking and sobbing at strangers was her way of dealing with stress. That wasn't exactly healthy.

Of course, she looked distracted enough, now. The wind was a bit chilly, not that it bothered him, but she probably wouldn't want to stay up here for too long. Still, it was an interesting effect, the city mirroring the night sky like that. Almost enough to make him homesick for the space colony, even though he'd sworn he was done missing the place.

The wind was chilly and the halter top she was wearing didn't keep her very warm against, but other than a shiver, she didn't show much against the cold; she was used to it. Her body never got very warm, one of those weird, useless traits that some of the people around here got. It was no big deal.

Perion laughed a little. "We're still in the city, just above it." The shock and adrenaline rush from being teleported had worked the alcohol out of her system pretty fast, but being up so high made her a little tipsy. "Wow."

He rolled his eyes a little, though certainly she was too busy enjoying herself to notice. That was fine. "Which is why I said I would have taken you out of the city, if I could..." It didn't matter, though, if she was paying attention or not. He'd gotten rid of the woe-is-me stuff, and they were both better off for it, by the looks of things.

"It's better up here than it is down there," he stated, feeling no need to look down for a comparison. The streets were dirty, and busy, and there was so much noise and so many people. Up here, well, it was different. The opposite. Everything was open in front of them, for miles around. The air was clear, there were no obnoxious smells of street food from the late-night purveyors of french fries, and best of all, there was nobody else in sight.

Perion leaned her elbows against the ledge of the roof, peering down a moment over the edge before vertigo got the better of her and she had to look straight ahead. "You should go up to the mountains," she said. "It's prettier up there, with all of the stars."

The city didn't bother her much; Perion was a city girl, born and raised, but when things got to be too much, she would often load up in her car and retreat up to the mountains to take a break. She didn't have much of a chance to this time around, as much as she wanted to get away.

"Maybe I will." Hopefully he wouldn't have to, though; it would be ideal if, given a few more days, he could find someone to help him out. But if he ended up being stuck here for a while, the mountains would be a nice place to visit sometime. A good long hike sounded ideal, as did stargazing away from city lights.

Maybe he could use a break too, he thought for a moment. Between the hell that was Econtra and the mess that would be his Earth under the Doctor's schemes... maybe he should take this opportunity to stop for a moment, and let time go by. Do nothing, and enjoy it.

It sounded nice, but it was too idealistic. A day of that, and then he would need to be on the move again. That was just how he was.

She nodded a little, listening without really listening. It was idle banter at this point, but she didn't want to be rude and brush it off so quickly.

After a few moments, she inquired softly, "So... you said if I told you my story, you'd tell me yours?"

Really, he wouldn't have minded her ignoring the conversation completely. It wasn't like he was doing much talking, and he would have been perfectly happy without.

However, he would tell her what had happened to him anyway. She seemed a little more likely to believe him now than she might have earlier.

"I come from an Earth very similar to this, in another dimension entirely. However, I was taken from there to another version of the world, at least three hundred years in the future. Drafted, supposedly, to fight an invading alien species called the Entropi.

"I'm not sure exactly what was really going on, but people came and left regularly, never of their own choice. Most were sent to the front lines. Some were sent home. So we were told, anyway. It seems that for whatever reason, I was sent here."

At this point in time, she was willing to believe anything, regardless of how kooky it sounded. Well, okay, she may have to draw the line at aliens and that certainly wasn't something she was expecting; actually, she was thinking it would be something similar to what happened to her, something more domestic.

"Aliens?" She inquired, with just a hint of incredulity. "That's... I... I actually don't have any words for that."

"All these strange things in this one city, and you find it hard to believe there is life out there?" His tone was condescending slightly, yes, but not as cold as usual. Shadow supposed he held a lot of affection for those stars. He'd been raised with them as the sky, rather than the blue of the Earth's atmosphere. Sure, he'd seen the planet, back then. He'd looked at it just about every day with Maria. But the stars were what defined his surroundings, in those days.

He was almost tempted to tell her where a good chunk of his DNA had come from, just to see her reaction, but it wasn't really worth it. He'd had all kinds of creative splicing done on him. What was an extraterrestrial species on top of everything else that made up his genetics?

She had to stop for a minute to think before speaking, slowly. "Not really, I suppose. Someone from up there is probably down there already, I wouldn't doubt it." As the woman spoke, she gestured from the sky to the city, to emphasize her point, she wasn't really sure why she did it.

"It's just... I haven't seen anything like you around here specifically."

He shrugged. "Different dimension. I don't look any more unusual than the other hedgehogs I've seen, and there are lots of other species, where I'm from." Which wasn't to say he wasn't unusual, but there were some things that you just didn't tell strangers, even if they buy you a drink and you show them the night lights. If she asked, maybe he would answer, but it depended on the question.

"Hedgehogs here are very small and cuddly looking." She giggled, trying to picture him as such and failing spectacularly. He didn't come out so much as small and cuddly as tiny and very, very grumpy. It took her a moment, but she sobered, regaining a straight face after her mini-giggle fit.

"What's it like, traveling dimensions? You do it often? What I wouldn't give to do that." Perion sighed wistfully. She loved Belmont, yeah, but it grew tiresome after a while. A change of scenery would be welcome, especially if it were in another dimension, far far away.

Shadow was actually familiar with the sort of hedgehogs she meant, having been turned into one briefly by Yuuko's magic. That had not been a good week. And yes, tiny and very grumpy had described him well; particularly because being so transformed wasn't exactly a source of joy for him.

"It's not something I'd done before," he answered. Certainly not something he'd ever thought of, as before Econtra, he hadn't known other dimensions even existed. But manipulating time and space to suit his needs was something he was growing ever-skilled at, and if he managed to get back home from here on more or less his own power, it might become a useful ability in the future.

"It's not something I've even heard of before, outside of literature," she responded, turning a glance on him. When she was a kid, she had read all sorts of fantasy and science fiction books, some of the latter actually dealing with different dimensions, but she never actually thought that they could be real or anything beyond what they were, just stories. But the thought that it was real, that there were other places out there...

And hopefully, the other places out there were less cold than the top of this building. Why had she decided to wear this damned halter? Oh, yeah... Because maybe she thought she was going to be in a club dancing instead of talking with a hedgehog on the roof of a building. That's right. With a small shiver, she turned to him to ask, "You mind if we go some place warmer? I don't think I can be up here much longer without a jacket."

He gave a nod and reached for her arm once more, and in an instant they were back at the bar. He'd said they'd be right back after all, and he figured the trip to the top of the city was good enough repayment for the drink. He didn't do favors out of the goodness of his heart, after all.

Oh good, and look at that, their seats hadn't even been stolen. Well, that was nice. He hopped up onto the bar stool and looked at Perion nonchalantly. Maybe he could get another drink out of her, if she didn't want to leave this place immediately.

"You mentioned the mountains, but I take it outside of that, you don't do much traveling."

"Not much out of that, no. My parents used to have a little place out in the country, but they sold it and moved here about a year ago." The woman shrugged, reclaiming her seat, surprised herself that no one had taken them and trying to brush off the odd look the bartender was giving them the two of them. Christ, you'd think he'd never seen someone teleport before.

Perion caught the nonchalant look from Shadow, though, and guessed what it meant. "Another dry martini?" An eyebrow was raised again as she looked at him, equally indifferent to mime the look that he had given her. She didn't feel much like drinking any more tonight herself and part of her was starting to actually feel bad on the off chance that she was harboring a parasite in her uterus. That part of her was actually starting to disgust the rest of the woman. Chances were it belonged to her ex and the last thing she wanted was a crying, pooping souvenir to remind the red head of him.

"Of course." A tiny smirk; a nod to the bartender, and soon he found himself with another glass. It was a good thing he'd run into her.

He didn't know how she managed, stuck in more or less one place for so long. Then again, it seemed that's how most of the people he'd met were. He couldn't imagine being tied to somewhere like that, by a job or a significant other or whatever it was that kept people so sedentary. It wasn't like it cost anything to travel if you just used your own two legs. Maybe that was what was wrong with most of humanity. They were too stationary. They only saw those immediately around them, and when they got sick of those people, that place, they tried to put up with it instead of finding something new. Really, it was laziness, more than anything, he supposed. That, and the invisible walls that people crafted. The ones they were too afraid to break out of, because they were too comfortable in those little boxes.

"Of all the places to be stuck, at least this is a large city," he said with a shrug, as he looked boredly at his reflection in the glass.

"It's not bad. Exciting sometimes, I suppose." She a ran a hand through her hair in a tired manner, thinking a moment before smirking herself, though it was more vague and empty. "You should stay around for the full moon; werewolves everywhere." A small, hollow laugh escaped her throat. Being back inside was making her feel weird, off. Things didn't feel right on the top of the building, but they felt better, almost like all of her problems were below her and she didn't have to come down until she wanted to; now she was surrounded by them again.

"I apologize. You really did run into me at a bad time."

Werewolves, hm? That was a new one to him. He didn't doubt it, though, what with everything else that seemed to be around here. He wondered how closely they resembled the ones in the old stories he'd read back on the ARK. If the reality about so-called gods and goddesses was any indication, werewolves probably weren't really a big deal, either.

And now she was apologizing? To the guy who'd kicked her in the head the night before. He knew he had an unfortunate knack for getting people to think they should trust him when they probably shouldn't - actually, especially when it was intentional on his part, but that wasn't unfortunate at all - but this was more than he'd expected. It really was a good thing he didn't want anything more to do with her than a few drinks. Of course, she didn't really have anything else of interest to offer him. If she'd been a secret technological genius, well, that would have been different.

"I'll be gone soon enough," he said, brushing off her apology with disinterest.

Perion had been apologizing more herself than for him, but the way he brushed it off didn't sit well with her. "You know, you should apologize about the other night, too." The woman's hands were clasped together beneath her chin and her look was something that often chilled the bones of the interns who screwed up their autopsies.

Really, she didn't know why this bothered her so much, but it did on some level. You get attacked and then apologize for spilling your guts over a few drinks, but don't get an apology from the night before when your head gets kicked in? Yeah, thanks buddy.
chibimusa24: He met her expression with a cold stare of his own. He'd apologized already, it wasn't his problem if she'd missed it. That was her problem, not his. And really, he was holding a conversation with her, and he'd taken her up to see the lights. That was more of an apology than he ever gave.

"You're the one who attacked me," he reminded her. He'd intended to intimidate, certainly, because it was an easy way to get answers out of those who were unlikely to give them. And then she went after him, which was pretty foolish. Wasn't the first rule of self-defense to run, and fight only if you had to? Not something he ever followed, but then again, he rarely found himself in a situation where he was defending, rather than the one attacking.

It was perhaps a subtle change on the surface, but whereas he'd been relaxed (for him) before, and relatively friendly (again, for him, which wasn't saying much), he was now a picture of callous hostility, eyes narrowed slightly, and quills stiff and at the ready.
rsiasta: "You provoked first," she replied with a little laugh. It wasn't a malicious laugh, but wasn't a friendly one either. She noted the hostility and countered it with her own, the closest of the hanging plants shuddering in their pots, leaves stretching towards her.

"I don't want another fight, if that's where this is leading." With a shrug, she let her own hostility roll off her shoulders and the plants seemed to sigh as they relaxed, going back to being nothing but ordinary decorations. As much fun as bar brawl sounded, it probably wouldn't be good for anyone in the surrounding area.

"Good." He watched her a moment longer, then turned back to his drink and had a sip. She may have blown off her sour attitude, but he hadn't, not yet. Then again, that was more usual for him than chatting up random redheads.

Her attempt to intimidate him was laughable, but maybe it was just because he was more or less immune to his own tactics. Anyway, it seemed she'd given up for now. He didn't owe her anything, and she would be hard pressed to get anything more out of him unless it was his idea, if she was going to be that way.

There wasn't anything that Perion had wanted to get out of him, other than what he was doing here, and she figured that she had gotten all that she would get on that subject, or any subject from now on, for that matter. She realized that she had probably just blown it, trying to get him to apologize, but why should she be the only one? It wasn't like he was immune from the same mistakes anyone else would make.

For the time being, Perion decided it would probably be wise to just keep her mouth shut. What else could she say, really? 'Sorry for pissing you off?' because she wasn't. It wasn't her fault the hedgehog was so touchy. She passed a hand over her eyes with a soft, tired sigh before taking a look at her wristwatch. It was late, but none of the girls had called her. Chances were they were took drunk to care what happened to Perion now and they had found rides home with some random guys they had picked; that wouldn't be unusual for the two of them.

Shadow caught her glancing at her watch, out of the corner of his eye. She wanted to leave, hm? That was always what that meant. He wondered idly where she lived, how far it was from here. Not that he was going to give her a ride. He'd been nice enough tonight already to fill his niceness quota for a month.

He wasn't exactly sure why, either. Because he had nothing better to do, maybe? But no, usually when he had nothing better to do, finding some girl to go drinking with was on the bottom of his list of ideas. Oh well. Maybe it was just another of those little mysteries. He'd done something civil for someone on a whim. Even if most people probably didn't count insisting that the girl buy you drinks as civil.

Oh well. Potentially useful in the future; he could label her as that and see what happened. She was no Rouge, but she would do in a pinch, if he needed someone good with plants, maybe.

Leaving... was on her mind, but not first and foremost. For the most part, she was more upset that her friends hadn't seen fit to call to make sure she was okay, no matter how many drinks they were drinking or how many guys they were picking up. Perion felt that it was almost selfish of her, but they were her friends. They should care, especially now. This night was supposed to be for her to take her mind off of things and she was getting that more from some strange, extra dimensional creature than the girls she worked with.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes and she ignored them, instead staring at the wall of different coloured bottles of booze. It was tempting to get herself another drink to drown everything and make what was in her head shut up, but she couldn't, not now. The silence between the two of them was getting to her now, too.

She swallowed back tears, voice shaking slightly as she spoke, "You have a place to stay?"

For a bit, the only sign he'd even heard her question was the ear pointed toward her, as he finished off the second martini. She wasn't concerned for him, was she? Because if she was, and if she was offering a place to stay, well. That was generosity indeed. Most people weren't that kind to him. Hopefully she wasn't this nice to every guy who kicked her in the face. Of course, if she was getting a divorce, that proved fairly well that she knew how to stand up for herself emotionally a little, maybe.

"No," he eventually replied. He'd slept on a rooftop last night, not minding the cold. He'd planned on finding some abandoned loft to use as his temporary shelter; cities like these usually had plenty, and nobody but the pigeons ever minded. If she was offering to find somewhere for him, he wasn't sure whether it he should take her up on it.

"I know of a motel and a couch. Take your pick." She offered a tight, watery smile, almost as a peace offering. If she could make up for pissing him off as badly as she had, it was the least she could do. And beside, she highly doubted he had any money or else he probably would have ditched her a long time ago to get his own drinks.

Common sense told him the motel was the better idea. A room to himself, probably equipped with free cable, would be better than crashing on someone's couch, generally speaking. Then again, he didn't really like the idea of living off her money. Getting a couple drinks out of her was one thing, but he didn't know how long he would be here, and honestly, he hated seedy motels, even if it was the reasonable choice to make. He would prefer an empty loft over a cheap mattress and odd noises from neighboring rooms, any day.

With a sigh, he looked over at her and gave a small shrug. "Whatever is easier on you. I'm flexible."

"Couch it is." The divorce hadn't left her with much, but she was slowly making it back. It wasn't like she was hurting too badly, at any rate, but badly enough that she couldn't afford an at least decent motel room for a few nights and she didn't want to saddle the hedgehog with one of the more disgusting ones; she had been there and it wasn't pleasant.

Though she was thankful that after her ex had left, she had had a lock installed on the only bedroom of her apartment. Perion didn't think Shadow would try anything and she didn't think a lock would stop him even if he did, but it made her feel a lot safer to have than to not.

Secretly a little surprised, he gave a small nod. She was too trusting, and someday it would get her into trouble. But for now, her generosity toward random homeless hedgehogs was appreciated. Maybe he would repay her with a trip out of town, if he got a chance and if she had the time.

Maybe he wouldn't mind her company too much, anyway. Not that he expected to talk to her much once they got back; she probably wanted to go to sleep, and he would be off early, looking for someone who could get him out of this dimension. But he'd stayed with worse people before, and he'd survived. In fact, so had they.

If she had known what he was thinking, she would have said she wasn't all that bad, actually. And her only plans when she got home was to settle down in bed in her pajamas with a tub of ice cream and cry until she fell asleep. It's something she had done every night for the past two weeks, sometimes minus the ice cream, sometimes minus the sleeping, but it was a good enough plan for her state of mind.

"Ready to head back or you want another one of those?" Perion gestured vaguely towards the martini glass, not wanting to rush him, but wanting to get out of there as soon as she could by this point.

Not particularly interested in staying any longer, himself, Shadow hopped off the chair. "How far is it?" he asked, already heading for the door.

Hopefully, despite the drinks, she had a good, detailed memory. He was feeling thankful enough to save her the few bucks a taxi would cost, if she could describe her place well enough for him to get her there safely. He really would have preferred to run; carting someone along with him in a Chaos Control multiple times in one night would wear him down more than he wanted to admit, but she wasn't fast enough to keep up, obviously, and a piggyback ride would be demeaning, not to mention impossible and painful for whoever tried to sit on his shoulders.

Not to mention Perion would be so offended to even have that suggested to her that another plant fight might go down. But since that wasn't even really an option... "About three miles down the road. Why? We can just hitch a cab, it's not like it matters."

The woman got unsteadily to her feet, following Shadow out the door. Even after sitting for so long, the time spent on the roof and the drinks before had left her dizzy and this side of disoriented.

Only three miles? Thinking back to the other night, it made sense; she hadn't been very far out from here at the time. It was a shame she was so slow in comparison to him, because running that distance would take all of a minute or less at a moderate pace. He wondered idly if that would count as speeding in this dimension; it had never mattered in Econtra, and back at home, both he and Sonic had some sort of immunity from that law. It would be like telling the police they had to drive the speed limit when chasing someone down, if he had to draw a comparison, except that it was too narrow in scope.

He caught her wrist as soon as she stepped outside, before she could try to hail a cab. She didn't exactly look sober, but as long as she wasn't too forgetful, they wouldn't end up in some little old lady's living room.

"Describe your apartment in detail. Pick things that are unique."

Sure, there was a chance with this that they would end up halfway across the world, but that was part of what made a blind teleport interesting, wasn't it?

As soon as her wrist was grabbed, Perion jumped and glared at Shadow. "Would you stop doing that, please? Scares the shit out of me." After working with dead people all day that didn't move at all, any sort of sudden movement would set Perion on edge and cause her to flinch. She was mostly able to suppress it, but not being able to see straight made for a difficult time in that department.

"There's... You want the inside or the outside?"

He rolled his eyes a little at her complaint, then answered, "Whichever is less likely to send us to another continent entirely." So he couldn't really blame her when it came to sudden unexpected contact. The one time Amy had grabbed him on Prison Island, it had taken a lot of restraint not to immediately backfist her in the face for that.

"It... Inside, I suppose." Perion had to pause and think about the inside of her apartment. She had been there every day for the past few years, obviously, and she knew it inside and out, but she never really had to think about it. What sort of markers could she give that wouldn't land them hundreds of miles away in some poor sod's living room?

"It... The walls are pale yellow. White along the bottom, just a little bit. There's... a couch. Right in front of the fireplace and there are picture frames on the mantle, mostly of mom and dad... Plants, lots of plants and flowers. Er... Anything else you need?"

Funny, it was almost like she'd never teleported herself before. He closed his eyes, picturing the space. It was good, but not good enough.

"I need details. A tear on the upholstery, a stain on the carpet. The mole on your father's chin, I don't know. Something specific." Something like that, coupled with the layout of the room, would probably be enough. He would memorize it better when they got there.

"There's... fuck, I don't know. A scuff on the wall by the couch where it smacked it when I moved in. The couch is right up against that same wall." Through the haze, Perion was having trouble thinking of what exactly the room looked like in tiny details like scuffs, rips, and tears. "There are no stains, it's all hardwood..."

Well, it was worth a shot. Better than standing out on the street, anyway. He normally wasn't quite this impulsive, and would have preferred a bit more information, but he could tell he wouldn't be getting anything more out of her. It looked like she was more likely to get frustrated and jerk her arm away than give him something better to work with.

Picturing what he knew, Shadow issued the silent command to teleport, seriously hoping it would be the last time tonight he took it upon himself to do stupid favors for the girl. A bright light surrounded them, and quite suddenly, they were in Perion's living room.

With a small gasp, Perion looked around her living room, surprised that it actually worked. She moved her wrist carefully away from the hedgehog and took a step towards the couch before collapsing on the floor, her knees having given way beneath her. "I can't... I still can't believe that. I... I should call the girls, let them know that I'm okay."

She was going to fumble for her phone but she couldn't quite get her fingers to work. Even though she had teleported with him just a few hours before, the second time had overwhelmed her. And it wasn't really like she expected her friends to care at this point anyway, if they hadn't checked in with her earlier, but it was the only thing she could think of to do.

Well, she was free to do that, even though it looked like she was having trouble. Shadow, on the other hand, took a good look around the room, starting by walking over toward the fireplace and examining the photos on the mantle. Faces were easy to remember, and photos were less likely to change than other details might.

He turned, then, taking in the rest of the room, before focusing on the girl, who seemed to have fallen to her knees. Unsure exactly of what to do about that, he frowned and watched her with a slightly confused look. She was having a lot of trouble, that was sure.

"They haven't called you; why should you call them?"

"They're... I don't know. I don't really know why I should call them." She stopped her search for her phone and let her hands fall into her lap, glancing up the pictures on the mantle of her parents and a younger version of herself smiling. There was one frame that had been turned over, a picture from her wedding day three years prior; Perion hadn't had the heart to throw it out or box it up, so instead just left it there as a reminder, and she felt a pang of sadness looking up at it. Those weren't necessarily happier days, but they were more comfortable, more easy because she knew what would happen during them. Now... Perion didn't know what would happen, where she would go.

Even the familiar comforts of her living room weren't all that comforting anymore.

It would have been nice had Perion thought to tell him about the overturned photo on the mantle; it seemed like an obvious enough detail, and had probably been done intentionally, so it's not like she had never noticed. But it was no matter, he'd gotten them there safely somehow anyway. He was just glad Chaos Control didn't require a photographic memory. That would be extremely inconvenient and would probably result in unintentional time travel when things didn't match up quite right.

... Actually, that wasn't a bad idea, he thought. If he could get a hold of another Emerald to play with at some point, he could probably use that sort of detail to suggest temporal locations as well as spatial ones. Traveling forward in time would be impossible, unless he was returning to the present, but going back in time... would... he could...

No, that was out of the question. Manipulating time was one thing; intentionally changing events was another. Tempting as it was.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, and patted the couch. "Is this the one that's mine for the night, then?"

"Oh... yeah. Yes, that's yours." Perion shook her head, her red hair looking more wild than it had earlier that evening. It looked like she finally realized that she was sitting on the floor and she stood, still a little dazed. "The kitchen's over that way and the bathroom is down the hall to the left. If you're not tired, the TV is free for you to use, just keep it low tonight, please."

Perion looked at him for a long moment. She had a feeling that he probably wouldn't be there in the morning, but she felt she may as well offer anyway. "I have tomorrow off if you need to go anywhere. I don't mind driving." Well, she didn't really have tomorrow off, but she was going to call out; one of her friends had offered to cover for her and she had vacation time saved up, so it shouldn't be a problem.

"I'll be fine," he replied, somewhat amused that she should suggest driving him anywhere. Unfortunately, he didn't know what exactly he would be up to in the morning. He would have to ask around again and see what he could come up with. Why didn't this world have a mad inventor desperate to taking over the world that he could bargain with? He was used to dealing with those.

"Your car would have a tough time keeping up with me anyway, I'm afraid," he added. No, she should stay here and get some rest, and maybe someone to help her out. Hopefully she could get in contact with one of her friends, proving they weren't all too hung over or whatever the results of their activities tonight would be in the morning. It must have been something, if they hadn't called.

"Alright," Perion said, passing a hand over her face tiredly. "If you need anything, knock. G'night." With a little wave, the woman meandered down the hallway and into her bedroom, locking the door behind her with an audible click. Again, she didn't think the hedgehog would try anything, but just in case.

She didn't even bother changing, just flopped over on the bed and hugged a pillow tightly to her chest, burying her face in it. It'd be better in the morning and this would all end up being a dream.

The lock might have been one of the more reasonable things she'd done in dealing with him the entire time, he mused. Oh well. Good for her. Shaking his head a little, Shadow pulled off his gloves and slipped out of his shoes, then curled up on the couch. It was more comfortable than the concrete floor he'd been expecting before she'd made her offer. She really was just a nice girl in a bad situation. Him being around and picking on her probably didn't help much, but maybe she'd gotten a little perspective from his visit. He could only hope, anyway. The universe was a much bigger place than her little domestic drama, no matter how important that seemed to her. She would live, and keep going, and someday she would look back on it and realize it wasn't so bad.

The thought he'd had about time travel was bothering him again. If his theory about the mechanics of such a thing was actually feasible, then he really could save her. He knew he shouldn't, of course. The past was best left in the past; he'd learned that already, and had sworn he was done. But he hadn't known of this possibility then.

First things came first, he reminded himself. Get home, then worry about the ethics of killing scores of soldiers who were commanded by the same man who currently employed you in order to save her. That one would take a little while to work out.

Next: In which Shadow finds himself a Companion; or, "She's the plucky girl that helps me out".